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A review by ghostboyreads
Camp Slaughter by Sergio Gomez
3.0
"The guy's face was dry and cracked. Patches of it were peeling off like old wallpaper. The eyes, dark as obsidian, were set too far back into their sockets. With his next breath, he realized that it wasn't the man's face he was looking at. No, no. It was a face, but a face over a face."
Review updated as of my re-read (1o.1.25-11.1.25)
Camp Slaughter is one properly brutal slasher novel. Completely filled to the brim with gory, gross, sickening scenes that actually push it closer to extreme horror territory. It's so god-damn gruesome, yet, wildly entertaining, too. Sergio Gomez fantastically balances realistic scenes that add a whole new level of dread to an already frightening story, with some rather over-the-top, melodramatic slasher elements. Camp Slaughter is just, a whole heap of fun, it's a book about a cannibal killer who wears the faces of his victims, what more could we want from a slasher? If you're an extreme horror fan, or a fan of delightfully twisted, messed up shit, if you love gore, bodies stacked to the sky and super fun kills, then you've just found your next horror obsession.
Like with any typical slasher, you're going to have to suspend your disbelief just a little, the focus here is more set around the satisfying kills than it is on the storyline itself, of course. Though, through some impressive storytelling, Gomez somehow paints his killer in a sympathetic light at times. Bleak, oppressive, completely distressing little vignettes offer us a glimpse into the horrific past of our villain. Getting to see the depressing reality of the villains life was a brilliant curveball, it's not that often that slashers examine their killers too closely, after all. Most of the time, Camp Slaughter is properly scary, it starts with an insanely intense prologue and kind of just gets more unhinged from there. It's a real anxiety inducing little read.
Review updated as of my re-read (1o.1.25-11.1.25)
Camp Slaughter is one properly brutal slasher novel. Completely filled to the brim with gory, gross, sickening scenes that actually push it closer to extreme horror territory. It's so god-damn gruesome, yet, wildly entertaining, too. Sergio Gomez fantastically balances realistic scenes that add a whole new level of dread to an already frightening story, with some rather over-the-top, melodramatic slasher elements. Camp Slaughter is just, a whole heap of fun, it's a book about a cannibal killer who wears the faces of his victims, what more could we want from a slasher? If you're an extreme horror fan, or a fan of delightfully twisted, messed up shit, if you love gore, bodies stacked to the sky and super fun kills, then you've just found your next horror obsession.
Like with any typical slasher, you're going to have to suspend your disbelief just a little, the focus here is more set around the satisfying kills than it is on the storyline itself, of course. Though, through some impressive storytelling, Gomez somehow paints his killer in a sympathetic light at times. Bleak, oppressive, completely distressing little vignettes offer us a glimpse into the horrific past of our villain. Getting to see the depressing reality of the villains life was a brilliant curveball, it's not that often that slashers examine their killers too closely, after all. Most of the time, Camp Slaughter is properly scary, it starts with an insanely intense prologue and kind of just gets more unhinged from there. It's a real anxiety inducing little read.
"Ignacio saw them as he walked through the campgrounds. The woman was underneath a tree, hugging her knees up to her chest. Tears ran down her eyes in streams that sparkled like glitter. They were tears of the damned, of the ones trapped in an existence that was neither living nor dead. The poor girl likely didn't know where she was, or even what she was anymore."
In many, many ways, this is your traditional slasher novel, it follows along with all the expected beats, it focuses on all the important parts of a slasher - there's the insane, wild, utterly exaggerated kills, the characters who are little more than cannon fodder, there's the isolated, desolate setting, it's all here. And, we even have the quintessential line-up of slasher victims, the jock, the budding artist, the hot but clueless girl, the younger brother tagging along, it's all very typical, but, why fix what isn't broken, right? Now, Camp Slaughter does border on the extreme horror end of things, but, it's a lot tamer than most extreme horror offerings, which makes it a fantastic starting point for those looking to explore the sub-genre.
"Her stomach curled in on itself as she saw the dangling ears on either side of the face the maniac was wearing, saw the little hairs still stuck at the top of the dried flesh. She felt the tickle of vomit climbing up her throat. She fought against it, though, because she was sure to choke on it with the rag blocking its exit."